I hate to rain on anyone's parade - I'd really like to see them succeed. It is a neat concept, but I honestly don't see it catching on in a scale large enough for them to mass produce the rolling chassis
It could only be sold as an owner built 'Kit Car' because it would never meet the Federal standards to be mass produced - The battery pack is just a couple inches behind where the front bumper would be. Passing crash or rollover testing, and the multitude of other requirements for a legal mass produced vehicle would be nearly impossible. Even the fabrics used in the car interior must pass tests for burn rate, toxicity and so forth
I recall many years ago when I was stationed in Germany and people were wanting to buy European cars and ship them home to use in the USA - Even with a factory mass produced car like a European version Porsche which was never sold here, the requirements to get it made Federally legal were cost prohibitive - You had to make all sorts of changes - Lighting, interior materials and so forth and you couldn't import it until it was inspected and passed all of the stringent safety laws. It's much easier now because many more cars are built 'world legal' than they used to be
Dozens of companies have sold Kit Car 'kits' over the years, but none of them have ever sold very well, I think because only a small percentage of the population could build them by themselves without expensive expertise hired at cost prohibitive labor rates
After you've assembled this chassis in one hour, can you imagine how long it would take an average person to build a roadworthy body, with glass, doors, bumpers, interior appointments etc? Getting the *rest* of the car installed on the chassis could take hundreds of hours and cost you 2X as much as you paid for the rolling chassis, and then when you're done, you have a home made car which you probably could not sell for half what you invested . . . . *if* current laws would even allow you to sell it at all. Getting it licensed and registered in many states could also prove to be difficult, let alone being able to buy liability insurance so you could legally drive it on the public roads
I think it's more likely to be sold to those living in rural areas who need something to drive the 2 or 3 miles down their driveway to their mailbox out on the main road. But even for those folks, it may cost so much more than the golf cart they're using for that purpose now to ever be a big seller
When everything is factored in, this may cost as much or more as a new iMiEV and certainly twice as much as a good used one - Build a kit car for $15K, or buy a good used, road legal, factory produced car for half that?
Don